Transcripts
1. Introduction: [MUSIC] Hello, I'm Jessica Barrah. I'm a Print maker
and an illustrator. In this course I'm going to
teach you how to design, carve, and print your
own line of block. [MUSIC] With that skill, you'll be able to print your
own cards and invitations, or print on blank fabric
items such as bags, aprons, tea towels, or print on fabric to make your own items,
such as clothing, purses, cushions, lampshades, duvets, anything really. I started off as
a writer who then decided they wanted to
illustrate their own stories. I took an evening course
in graphic design and illustration and developed
my style from there. I joined the Bright
illustration agency, and I've illustrated
a children's book and I'm working on new ones. I've had my cushions and artwork featured in magazines in the UK, and will be in the next
issue of Uppercase Magazine. [MUSIC] I took an evening course in printing around
three years ago, and then over the pandemic
retreated to my garden shed. I've really concentrated
on practicing and learning more skills on my own and
from online tutorials. Three years on, I sell my
designs from my own website, the online gift sites, and have started teaching
small groups in my local area. I've been using digital
illustration techniques and had my pattern designs
digitally printed onto fabric. But I was delighted to
discover that there was a way to print on fabric
with liner blocks, that was so immediate without having to
wait for the post, and the quality of
print is so vibrant. It's also really
nice to give your eyes a rest from digital
screens for once. Go somewhere quiet, listen
to music or an audio book, and do something so hands-on. Where do we start. First of all, we'll look at your class projects so that you know what
your final aim is, and that's to design, carve, and print a block for yourself. We'll look at the tools
and materials you'll need and find out how to
set up your printing area. We'll get some
design inspiration by looking at the world around you as well as other patterns in your home or on Pinterest. Get started carving out
some simple shapes, and I'll show you
how to transfer your designs onto
the liner block. Then we'll start
playing around with combining colors and shapes. [MUSIC] We'll look
in a bit more detail at repeating patterns and a little section about
printing layers, Although I'll look at that in more depth in a future class. I'll talk you through
some more details about how you can print
your final design, and then you should upload
a photo of your final print on paper or on fabric and anything else that
you've made with it. I'm so excited to be
teaching this class. Having learnt so much from
other artists teaching online, it's great to be passing on the skills I've learned
in the same way. I can't wait to
see the beautiful designs you come up with. [MUSIC]
2. Class Project Overview: [MUSIC] At the end of this class, you have a final project
which is to design, carve, and print your block. You can print on
paper or on fabric, or on a textile item like
napkins or a tote bag. You'll then share
your class project by uploading a photo
of your design. If you make something
with your print, then it would be great if
you could share that too. How are we going to start off? I've find a file for you to download with all the
resources you'll need to complete your
project and everything I'll be going through in
this Skillshare class. If you get lost along the way, then everything will
be there to help you. There are also links
to other websites or blogs that I think are really
useful and inspirational. First, we'll go through the
basics of using your tools, setting up your printing space, transferring the design, and carving out some shapes. Then we'll practice printing
with some simple shapes. You'll start thinking about the design of your final block, sort sort of pattern
that you'd like to make, if it will be on
paper or on fabric, and what you'd like to
make with it in the end. Then it's time for you to
design your final block. You'll trace or withdraw
your design onto lino and start
carving your block. Then you'll cut out your
block and neaten the edges. You'll do some test sprints, try out different
patterns and colors. Then print your final design. You can make so many things with pattern paper and fabric. Make a whole dress and take a picture of
yourself wearing it, or just wrap up a gift. It's up to you.
Let's get printing. [MUSIC]
3. Tools and Materials : [MUSIC] What are you going
to need to get started? I've made a list in the Class PDF Download
for you to refer to. When you're starting out, you don't need to
buy a lot of kit. You don't want to
waste your money, you want to see if
you like it first. But you'll definitely
need the carving tool, some Lino and something
to print with, so that's an ink pad or
cheap block printing ink. Let's first look at
the tool you'll need. I started off with
this set here, with a handle and a
few interchangeable heads and I still use it. You do need at least larger
and smaller ones for carving details and
clearing larger areas. Lino tools are mostly
V-shaped or U-shapes. The V-shaped got
sharper deeper lines, and the U-shaped ones
are more shallow. A wide, larger head means the line
you'll make is bigger. For the smallest details
you pick the smallest head. You can get individual
tools that are about 20 pounds rich, but these are the tool necessary when you're starting out. You'll also need some
scissors, a pencil, some permanent marker
pens will be useful, an eraser and a craft knife. Now, onto the materials. First of all, the Lino. There are different types
of Lino that you can get. You can buy these from arts
and crafts stores and online. Traditional Lino is usually in gray color and it's back
to the hessian in fabric. You can get it in
sheets cut into different sizes or
very large role. I usually buy the A3 sheets, but that's for making
larger Lino cuts. This Lino is quite stiff, and you can warm it
up by putting it on top of the radiator
for a few minutes, which makes it a
bit easier to cut. Then we have Soft Cut, which surprise, is a bit softer. It feels more plasticky
and you can print on both sides although one side is slightly more
textured than the other. Finally, you have Speedy-Carve, which is the softest
of them all. It's very springy and can
be used for carving stamps. It's easier to hold and
print with because it's thicker and it's fantastic if
you're using with ink pads, although it is a bit more expensive than the
other types of Lino. You can also use ready-made
rubber stamps for printing. I've got a couple of
alphabets and a few shapes. Sometimes, I use the
plus and the minus in the letter O for adding
more details to a pattern. As I hope you can see, the
actual letters are reversed, which is something to keep
in mind if you're ever designing a block
incorporating letters, your block will print out
the opposite way round. Keep all the off cuts of Lino to make smaller stamps
for your patterns. You can also carve until
it raises and one of the most useful things
for printing can be a pencil with a little
eraser on the top. You can use this for
adding spots of color to the center of flowers
or eyes onto an animal. Now, let's talk about ink. The easiest and cleanest
thing would be ink pads. You can get them in lots
of different colors and some ink can be used on
fabric and on other surfaces. It will dry out quite easily, so always keep the lid on them when you're not using them. I really like inks for
printing out test prints so that I can see where I need to carve out more without the mess. Water-based paints
are good for using on paper and they wash
up very easily. They do dry out as
you're using them, so you'll need to work quite
quickly or use more ink. Then you have the safe
wash oil-based inks, which have a very good color
and keep water for longer. They wash up in cold water
with washing up liquid. Then you have traditional
printing inks which you can clean up
with oil or taps. I have a gold linseed based ink, which looks beautiful, but it does take a
little more cleaning. You can get specialized
inks for block printing on fabric and you can also print on fabric with
screen printing ink, especially for fabric or
even the normal kind. I usually get red, blue, yellow, black, and white so that
I can mix up all colors. If you know you want a specific color or if you want something special like a neon
or metallic color, then you can just
buy a tube of that. Unless you are exclusively
using ink pads, you'll also need a roller. Smaller ones are probably most
useful for block printing. If you're using
block printing inks, then you'll need
hard rubber rollers, something to roll it out on. I use glass from old picture frames or
shelf from my old fridge. You can also use Perspex
or special plastic trays. You need something
perfectly flat. If you're using
screen printing ink or fabric block printing ink, then you'll need
a softer roller. I use a small one
that I originally bought for doing
the edges of walls. But you can also buy specialist rollers for
printing on fabric. Now, let's look
at the next step. Setting up your printing area. [MUSIC]
4. Set Up Your Printing Area : [MUSIC] If you're using block printing inks or
screen printing inks, you'll need enough space
to put your rollers, your glass wool Perspex sheet, your rolling tray,
your printing inks, and your paper and fabric. Have some kitchen paper or cloth to wipe off marks and get a few empty tubs for
carrying your rollers and blocks around without
getting ink everywhere. I'd also recommend wearing
old clothes and/or an apron. If you're not working at
an old desk like mine, which is covered in carved
marks and splotches, then you'll want to protect
your table or work surface. You can put down a
plastic sheet or an oil cloth or layers
of old newspaper. If you're printing on paper, then a hard flat
surface is good. If you're printing on fabric
or a tea towel apron, then you'll want
to have something slightly more cushioned. If you've got an old
blanket or some wadding, then put that on the bottom. Over the top, lay down
something like an oil cloth or plastic tablecloth
or just an old sheet that you don't mind
getting stained. You should also make sure that your fabric is as
flat as it can be. Iron it before laying it down. You could clip it or tape it
or put something heavy on the corners to keep it flat and stop it shifting around
or wrinkling up. If you're printing on a tote
bag or something that has another side underneath like a pillowcase or a cushion cover, then you'll want to
protect the other side and stop ink leaking through. You can put a board or
thick piece of cardboard inside it and to make
the area softer, cover that board with an
old tea towel or towel. Experiment to see what
works best for you. Inking up your block. If you're using ink pads, then you can either
apply the block to the pads or the
pad onto the block. It depends on the size of your
block or little stamp and the size of your pad as to
which is more convenient. When you're making
larger liner cuts, you usually press the paper onto the top and burnish it
with a spoon or Barron. But for block printing, you'd go the other way
and press the block down onto the paper or fabric. When you first use
a new ink pad, it can be quite wet, so it could smear little. Then after a while
it will be perfect. Then after using
it for a bit more, it will get too dry
and you'll have to really press it hard
to get the ink out. Remember to put the lid
back on top as much as possible to stop
it drying out. If you're using
block printing inks, then you'll roll out your ink on your flat surface
with a rubber roller. In time, you'll know how
much is best to squeeze out. But it's probably better to start with too little
rather than too much, and then you can
always add more ink. If you use too much, then you blocks gets
sticky and splotchy. If you want to mix up
your inks to make colors, then you can do that
directly on the glass. Roll it back and forth, mixing in the colors to one uniform color
with no streaks. Keep going until you hear it
making a little noise like [NOISE] and you'll see tiny
little peaks raised up. Then you're ready
to ink your block. Just do it lightly, you
don't need to press hard. Lift up the roller as you go, making sure each part is
covered with an even amount of ink going over it a
few times to make sure. If you're using
screen printing ink, you'll be using a softer roller. Again, rolling it out on your flat glass or
plastic surface. Screen printing ink will feel a lot wetter than
block printing ink. If you try and roll out
with a hard rubber roller, it just slides all
over the place. Again, you'll want to get your ink rolled out
in an even layer. Again, you can mix up the colors on the glass or you
can mix them up before in a small bottle jar and keep them with a lid on if you wanted to use that color later. If you have tiny details
like this tiny heart, then I'll press the stamp onto the roller using it
more like an ink pad, as it would be ridiculous to try and roll over
something so small. Then you're ready
to start printing. [MUSIC]
5. Get Carving : Before you design
your final block, it's good to get acquainted with the tools and techniques
you'll be using. You'll find out what is
and what isn't possible and what kind of design
suit this kind of printing. First of all, let's take a
look at the carving tools. As I mentioned before in the
tools and materials section, carving tools are
U and V-shaped, and the larger the head, the larger the mark you'll make. This is a flat tool which is used for clearing larger areas. Then we have the largest
U-shaped tool that I have, this is also good for
making circular marks. You dig in the tool and
twist it all the way around then take out the little round bit
that you've carved out. The other heads on the
mat are slightly smaller U-shaped and a small
V-shaped tool. This is a large V-shaped tool. As I mentioned, you
don't need to buy a separate tool like this
when you're starting out, but this one is good for making deep gouges and on
traditional lino, great for triangular marks
as it snaps off easily. To do that, you dig it
in and then upwards. Hopefully you could feel what I mean if you try it yourself. On soft carve and speedy carve, you can still make
those kinds of marks, but as it's more spongy, it doesn't snap off
in the same way. Try making some marks
to get the hang of it. Draw some shapes on
the edge of your lino. Don't join the middle as
you might want to use a larger bit later on and you
don't want to waste it. Carve out something simple like a leaf or a star, a flower, a circle, then you might
like to add some details, for example, lines on the leaf. Here I am trying out a leaf shape on the three
different types of lino. The gray lino needs
the most pressure, and this pink speedy curve is
the easiest to cut through. Remember, carve away from your hand and keep your
other hand out of the way. Whatever you cut will
not print ink and so you generally have to think
about your design in reverse. Sometimes that can be
difficult to visualize, so here's a few tips. Imagine your whole shape
is filled in with color, where would you
carve your details? Make sure that the
parts you carve away are thick enough
to print out clearly. I often try out with an ink pad where you can
color in your shape with a permanent marker
so that you can more easily see where you're
cutting and the effect it has. Next, cut out your block with a craft knife or you can
use strong scissors. If you've made a
very tiny block, you can stick it onto something else to make it
easier to handle. I've got some small pieces
of balsa wood or sometimes I stick tiny stamps on the end of a pencil
or dowling rod. You can also stick larger
pieces onto off cuts of wood or MDF to keep your hands
cleaner away from the ink. Here I've stuck a
liner block onto an old board because I had
changed the original design, chopped off the face, which
wasn't printing very well, and stuck on a new one. You can also use clear Perspex, which is good because
you can see through it and position the block
exactly where you need it. I usually use it just as it is. Next, you're going to
start printing and playing around with some
patterns and shapes.
6. Transfer Your Design & Ink Up: You can draw directly on your block if your
design is very simple, or you can trace your design. Here, I've already cut out
my horse-shaped block, but I've decided that I want
to carve out more details. I trace my horse design
from the printout sheet, and now I'm going
to flip it over. I've used a soft art pencil
so that it transfers easily. I think this one is about a 6B. I flipped over the
tracing paper and now I'm rubbing it with the
handle of my carving tool. You could use the
handle or the edge of a spoon as well or anything
really with a hard edge. I like this way of transferring the design because it
automatically reverses it for you. [MUSIC] If you had
letters on the design, they would reverse on
the liner and print out the right way when you
ink and print your block. Another way is to put dark
pencil on the back of the tracing paper and then
draw over the lines again. That way the image
will not be reversed. I find it a bit smudgy, and the other way is quicker. You can draw over the
lines you made on the liner with a permanent
marker pen if you like, that the lines are clearer
and won't rub off. [MUSIC] I carved
out the flowers, as you can see on the bottom
right of this picture. But in the end, I
decided to make a less detailed horse and another to contrast
in a scallop shape. I rolled out the ink
and then applied it evenly to the positive and
negative horse shapes. You need to make sure that
the whole block is inked. Go over it a few times
just to make sure. Then turnover and place
it on your paper. Here, I've been unusually organized and drawn where I want my first shape to go in an attempt to make
the print line up in the middle of the page. Here I'm printing on a role of plain lining paper which
goes on the wallpaper. It's inexpensive but
it's quite textured. It isn't as clean and crisp
a print if you compare it to the one printed on
smooth thin computer paper. Despite my best efforts, it's not perfectly
aligned either but this was my first
go with this print. Here I'm rolling over the print with a clean larger roller. I would usually put it down
and press with the back of my hands or even with my fingers
if it's a smaller shape. As it was quite large, I found that the roller help
press down all the edges. However, it did sometimes
rocked my block around which smudged it a bit. I hope you're now ready to
print out some simple designs. We'll go into slightly
more complicated designs like these horses later. But to start, we'll
look at how to cut out and carve into
some simple shapes. [MUSIC]
7. Playing with Shapes And Patterns: Let's get started with printing. Just play around on some scrap
paper to start off with. In the class PDF there's
a sheet of simple shapes. If you have a printer, you can print them out
and trace them, then transfer them
to your liner. Feel free to make
your own designs, transfer them and cut them out. I would usually cover around the shapes to establish
the boundary. Curve in a few
marks and then cut them out with a
knife or scissors. Don't make them too
tiny as then they're harder to hold in your
hand when you're printing. Then either use some ink pads, or roll out some color on your smooth glass
or perspex surface, and roll some ink on your
shapes and start printing. Experiment with
different papers. You can also print on
different colored papers to see how the same ink looks
on different backgrounds. Here you can see that the circle hasn't
come out very well, so I've printed over again. This time it's a lot
darker and clearer. If you have different colorings, try out different colors
and combinations of shapes. You can buy inks
in starter pack, so that you get a
variety to try out. Make sure you use a
different roller for each color or wash your
roller in-between. You can also get a collection of tiny ink pads to
play around with. These ones are only for paper. I wouldn't use them for
printing on fabric. You can overprint to
create different effects, adding spots of color
with smaller stamps or you can just use one color and that can still be
very effective. Here, I've used green to print
out the peak port block. That inspired me to
think about doing a print with more simplified
vegetable shapes. I just cut out a
rough carrot shape to see what it might look like. Have fun with experimenting. Nothing too difficult
at this stage.
8. Design Inspiration: [MUSIC] I totally love patterns and you can find them everywhere around my house. These patterns can
be the start of inspiration for
more block prints. It doesn't matter
where they are, on mugs, plates, or utensils in my kitchen. There's inspiration all
around, in the garden, in the landscape, on the street with the
shapes of houses, cars, planes, and trains. Hopefully this
section we'll get you looking around and seeing that almost anything can be inspiration for a
repeating print. Another thing I can't get
enough of is Pinterest. It's a great way to collect
together a digital scrapbook. In the class PDF, I've shared my own Pinterest boards for
liner cut, fabric stamping, patterns, and prints, which I hope can be
another source of inspiration for designing
your own print block. Don't copy other artists. But for example, if they've done a block print of tiny houses, you could do that too, but
just do it in your own way. A great inspiration into a
few different categories. First of all, we'll
look at florals. Floral designs are ever
popular all over the world. A block printing
is very good for the simple shapes of
more focused by designs. They're bold and
quite graphic in impact without being hard-edged. They can be a bit splotchy
and that's part of the charm. Here we have one of my favorite mugs and a selection of ceramics with
floral patterns. Very simple designs
with the flavor of different countries, Spain, Morocco, India, and then some
more Scandinavian designs. So we come to geometric. Geometric shapes like circles, triangles, diamonds, squares,
and more irregular shapes. You can combine them together to make different
patterns and borders, or curve them to
the shape itself to have more pattern and
color and texture. Moving through
polka dots circles, a more circles and lines with
this polish pottery teapot. Although the scallop
pattern is slogging, it's still quite regular. Again, the shapes in
this mug are regular, even if the way they've
been applied is uneven and different each time. Triangles on this pot plant
look like a cross between a chevron on a leaf
or palm design. You can be inspired by
star-shaped post-it notes or a radiator cover
with cutout designs. I like the way that the white color shows through the center of this
diamond shape, with rays playing out, and then more diamonds
on a packet of stores. As we've already seen floral
shapes can be stylized. In nature, there's a lot
of symmetry in geometry. Look at the shapes
on the inside of this chili and the center
of these prima leaves. Is good just star shapes. We can be directly inspired by the shape and
arrangement of petals, by the symmetry of leaves, and you can make designs
in a realistic way. It depends on the
front, for example, a realistic-looking peony
is more detailed to reproduce than a
simplified daisy , but you can still do it. I loved the way ivy leaves look, and the senior shapes
here on the fence. You could develop
a print like this and use the ivy leaf tendrils rotating around each time you print and snaking through
other flowers in your design. I've taken a fairly realistic
sketch of a snowdrop, and instead of stylizing
the actual flower, I've decided to make the pattern by using symmetrical
reflections. First of all, I use black and
white for Art Nouveau look, the back-to-back snowdrops
have a space in the middle, which I think about filling
with another flower, or maybe a circle. Then I decided I wanted it to be just green and white
instead of black and white. You can make your design less
realistic, more stylized, and geometric, making sure, for example, that each
side moves the other. One easy way to do that is
by cutting out the design on a folded piece of paper and then opening it out
and drawing around it. Here, I'm trying out
stylized daffodils and the illustration
app, Procreate. I've decided they
look too fussy, so I'll go for something
cleaner and more simplified. Sure, I have some detailed
shadow on the leaf. No, I've decided it
looks better plain, so I just copy each daffodil so they look exactly the same. Now, we come to animals. I love using animals in my liner prints and
block printing too. But when I've tried to do
realistic-looking cats, there have been some disasters. It's much easier to use a strong sideways
silhouette of an animal. If you're not happy
drawing your own shapes, then you can always find
these on the Internet. I tend to use fairly
realistic-looking animals, simplified so that
they can be easily recognized when printed
in just one color. For example, with just the eye showing or some
little details of fur and markings and a line
to show where their leg is. Well, in the same way, that
flowers can be stylized, animals can also become more decorative and
less true to life, or make more like a collection
of geometric shapes. In the first picture
on the left, the birds are quite
realistic shapes, but the colors in the team
lines make it more graphic. The next owl is more decorative, not at all true to life, and the third one
is very minimal, but it certainly makes
an impact and you can still recognize
it as an owl. Simplifying shapes can really help when making blueprints. You don't want something
overly detailed and intricate, especially when you're
just starting out. I don't tend to use as many man-made
shapes in my own work. I don't know why. I think I generally like natural shapes, flowers, and things with faces. Maybe because I'm not great at making accurate straight lines. Houses, churches, temples,
skylines, cars, buses, can vans, trains, bikes, one of these could make
fantastic and graphic prints. I hope that helps you
get thinking about your own design for
your footprint. Have a look around your own home to see if there's
any prints you have. Look on the Internet
or in magazines. Doodle some ideas on a
piece of paper or cut out some simple shapes and play around just to have fun [MUSIC]
9. More About Patterns: [MUSIC] More about patterns. In the previous section, we saw how you can combine
shapes, overprint, and make patterns with
different simpler shapes in one color or in lots
of different colors. But now, let's dive deeper into the wonderful
world of patterns. [MUSIC] You could put your block down anywhere on your paper and then
the next time, turn your block around so it's facing in a different direction. This is called a random
repeat or a toss. As though you've tossed
all your shapes up in the air and they've just
fallen as they want. You probably don't want
to have it totally random it's better to
space things out a bit. A flower or leaf design could be good for
this kind of pattern, giving it a natural look. You could do this
with just one block, as I've done here with the leaf, or again with this rabbit, it looks like it's sleeping
all over the place. The good thing about this random pattern is that if you've
printed it on fabric, you can use it in any direction. You won't have to
worry which way is up, down, left or right. [MUSIC] Here's the leaf
print that I made, but this time I overprinted
with yellow ink to give an autumnal look like a
pile of overlapping leaves. Usually, it would be better
to print the lighter color, the yellow, followed
by the darker one. [MUSIC] Tiled repeat, a tiled repeat is probably
the easiest one to recognize. Everything is lined up
side-by-side in a grid system, like square tiles on a wall. [MUSIC] You can print
it out by eye like I'm doing here
with the chew lips or if you want to
be more accurate, you could measure it out. It's always useful to have
a straight edge at the top. You could use a ruler to keep it straight or you could
put markers with tape or measure out little
marks with pencil or Tailor's chalk at the side
of your paper or fabric. [MUSIC] A brick repeat is like the way bricks are
placed on a brick wall, with the second layer offset by a half brick to give a stack
would look horizontally. [MUSIC] Half drop, a half drop repeat is very
similar to a brick repeat, but this time you drop down vertically instead
of horizontally. Instead of going across, the first line
would be vertical, and then the next row
drops down by half, and then the next row is back on the same level
as the first one. [MUSIC] In many patterns, you might like to
add extra details with smallest stamps, perhaps in a contrasting color. Here, I'm adding green dots with the eraser on
the end of my pencil. You could carve
out a tiny shape, for example, on this robot, a small triangle for the nose. On this horse sprint,
I've added a small saddle which you could print in
different contrasting colors. Other options to make
print slightly different might be printing on different
color paper or fabric. You might have to experiment
with different inks and papers or fabric colors to
see what will show up best. You can also print with
screen printing or block printing
white ink on dark. [MUSIC] Tessellating shapes. Think about a patchwork quilt, the fabric pieces are
often made up of hexagons, triangles, diamonds, or squares. All those shapes fit together well to make a block pattern. You could make a block
in the shape of one of those geometric shapes
and carve out details. I especially like contrast of light and dark
within a shape, which adds so much interest, even if you're only
printing in one color. This bird design is
basically inside a diamond, which I've divided into two
halves, light and dark. I like to do that so that when they meet there's a contrast. The light section meets up with the dark section and that
delineates the edge. You don't need to have a
line showing the edge is light because it's created by
being next to the dark one. [MUSIC] I've used
that same principle here in this leaf design. The light half has vein
marks that are dark. I've carved out everything
inside the leaf on that half, leaving just those vein marks, and then on the other side, I've left everything
just carving out the outer edges and
those vein marks. I'll be making another
class about how to create your own irregular
tessellating shapes, by these lizards in the future. When I talked about
design inspiration, I showed you this cushion, where there are a few
layers of color and the dark outline of this flower will be added as the last color. Generally, we've been
thinking about blocks where the main part of
the shape will be filled in with color and parts just
carved out to add details. But now we're going
to think about blocks that might
be more linear, where you've carved out a lot of the liner to leave the outline. Like here, where Elvis' jumpsuit has been mainly carved out so that it would
print out white. [MUSIC] You could add another
block of color underneath. This ivy leaf would print out like a solid block of color. But in contrast, this
flower that I've started carving would
just be an outline. It's still a bit messy, I need to cover out a little
bit more in the middle. I'm just rubbing
out the image in the Procreate app for speed to show you how
it would be done. Faking it up. Then I could make another block more
solid like the ivy leaf, the same shape as the flower. Here it is printed in orange. Then when it was dry, I'd add the outline on top and a darker or
contrasting color. After all that information, which will also be in
your class download, it's time for you to get
printing your final project. [MUSIC]
10. Your Final Project: Now it's time to get started
on your final project. This time I want you to design and carve a
block or a set of blocks and then print
them on paper or on fabric or on a
blank fabric item. You can use lots of
simple blocks or one or two slightly
more complicated ones. You can print on
paper or on fabric. You can use just one color
or lots of different ones. Plan out your design before you start making sure you take into consideration the
size of paper or fabric that you're going
to be printing on, and how you're going to
arrange your blocks. For example, on
this cushion cover, there are three hearts
down the middle. If you're planning on
making something specific, then think about the
size of the final item and where it would be most important for the
whole block to show. If you're making
something small, then use smaller blocks, if you're planning on
printing a bedspread, it's probably better
to make your block on the larger side or you'll be printing for a very long time. Practice on scrap pieces
of paper and fabric first, it's sometimes takes a few goes for the block
to print well. At first there can be too
much ink on the block and then it will go splotchy and
you'll lose the details. Keep your hands as
clean as possible. This is a bit of a do as
I say, and not as I do. Use things like
rulers marking tape, marks or jig to keep you straight if you're doing
irregularly spaced pattern, so it doesn't end
up going to wonky. If you're printing on fabric, check the manufacturer's
instructions about setting the
print before washing. Often you'll need to iron
the back of the fabric, but not directly onto the ink. You can print on fabric with some oil-based ink such
as Caligo Safe Wash, but they need to be dry first and this can
take some time. If you're intending making
something like a lamp shade, then it won't need to
be so color fast as you won't be wearing it or putting it in the
washing machine. I'm really excited to see
what you come up with. Remember, to upload a
picture of your design and anything you've made to the class project
page. Good luck.
11. Conclusion and Congratulations : [MUSIC] We've come to the
end of the class. Congratulations on
finishing your project and uploading it
to the class page. I hope that you enjoyed it and that you're proud
of what you made. I also hope that this isn't the last time that you
use your new skills. To recap, in this block
printing basics class, we've learned all about the
tools and materials you can use and the different options
for carving and printing. [MUSIC] Then, we looked at how to set up your print area and
ink your block, the ink pads, block printing ink and
screen printing ink. We've learnt about
the different types of carving tools and the different kinds
of liner blocks and how to curve into them. We've learnt how to transfer
designs onto tracing paper, how to ink your block and press your design onto
paper or onto fabric. We've had a go at carving some simple shapes
and printing them in one or more colors and
seeing how you can combine shapes together
in different ways. We've thought about
how design inspiration can be all around you, as well as on Pinterest and
other social media sites. We've learnt about
pattern formations and printing outlines
and I've guided you through what you need to
do for your final project. I'm really looking
forward to seeing your final designs and anything you've made
with your print uploaded to the
class project page. Block printing can
sometimes be frustrating. You can never get it absolutely
perfect with no smudges. But that just makes it a
handmade, imperfectly perfect. I've scanned liner
prints and had them printed out digitally. But it's never quite the
same as the real thing. There's a beauty to seeing
the physical layer of ink, the variation of
your hand pressure, making it print out slightly differently each
time you press down, giving a great sense of
energy to the print. I hope that you keep
experimenting with block printing and enjoy
it as much as I do. Remember, if you feel
you've missed anything, I've put lots of
information as well as some templates for liner
blocks in the class download. So do have a look at that. If you're still unsure or
confused about anything, then do get in touch with me via Skillshare and I'll be
happy to try and help. Please do leave a
review and follow my profile on Skillshare
if you liked this class. [MUSIC] There's
something wonderful about the immediacy
of block printing. You can have an idea
in the morning, carve out your block and
then have a new tablecloth, lamp shade or cushion
in the afternoon. All that's left for me to
say is, happy printing.
Jessica Barrah, Illustrator and Printmaker
